Pen holder



Feb. 18, 1969 w g, DANJC EK 3,428,380

PEN HOLDER Filed Nov. 30, 1966 ATTORN United States Patent 3,428,380 PEN HOLDER William E. Danjczek, Easton, Pa., assignor to Koh-I-Noor, Inc., Bloomsbury, N.J., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 597,902 US. Cl. 312-31 4 Claims Int. Cl. A47b 81/00; B43m 17/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A holder for capped stylus type fountain pens which receives the pens capped or uncapped in either point up or point down position. The holder is provided with a cover and a moisture retaining element to maintain the humidity in the holder.

This invention relates generally to new and useful improvements in holders for cylindrical articles and particularly seeks to provide a novel holder for stylus types of fountain drafting pens and so constructed that the pens may be held therein in several different positions and that the ink at the points thereof will be prevented from drying if the pens are held therein with the points exposed to the interior thereof.

Much of modern technical drawing not only requires the use of inks of several colors but also the use of pens capable of producing lines of varying thickness. Frequently the pens are left lying around loose in a drawer or on top of a drafting board, making it dilficult to locate any specific pen, although more recently stationary holders for multiple pens have been in use. However, such holders are not particularly useful on tilted drafting boards and cannot prevent the ink from drying on the points if the points are uncapped when the pointed ends are inserted into the holder.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a holder for stylus types of fountain drafting pens having means for preventing the ink from drying on the points thereof when the uncapped pointed ends are inserted in the holder.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated that includes a base clampable to a drafting board, a rotatable body portion pivotally attached to the base and provided internally with humidifying means, a pen holder cap covering the body portion and a deep skirted transparent lid covering the cap.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated in which the humidfying means is an annular sponge carried within the bottom of the body portion and in which the pen holder cap is provided with a plurality of generally vertical depending pen holding sleeves arranged along the path of a circle overlying the annular sponge and having a depth or length sufiicient to contact the upper face of the sponge.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated expressly designed to hold multi-part pens in a variety of positions and arrangements.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated in which the pen holding sleeves are internally step-bored to define a plurality of progressively narrower annular shoulders or ledges for receiving and retaining various pen parts in various posit-ions.

3,428,380 Patented Feb. 18, 1969 ice A further object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated in which the central part of the pen holder cap is configured to define a plurality of wells adapted to receive and retain such auxiliary devices as extension handles for the pens, disk type nib wrenches and ink containers.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pen holder of the character stated that is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture.

With these and other objects, the nature of which will be apparent, the invention Will be more fully understood by reference to the drawings, the accompanying detailed description and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a pen holder constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the base thereof taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the rotatable body portion thereof taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the pen holder cap;

FIG. 6 is a transverse vertical section taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged transverse section of a pen holding sleeve taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged exploded elevation of a stylus pen, partly in section, of the type that the illustrated embodiment of this invention is adapted to hold;

FIG. 9 is an elevation, partly in section, of an extension handle or barrel of the pen of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is an elevation of one form of clamp for the pen holder of this invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the invention as illustrated is embodied in a rotary or lazy-susan type of pen holder including a frusto-conical base 5, an inverted frusto-conical body shell 6 rotatably mounted on the base, a pen holding cap piece 7 closing the top of the body shell and a frusto-conical deep-skirted transparent lid 8.

The base 5 is preferably molded from a suitable opaque plastic and is provided on its upper face with an axially located cylindrical recess 9 having a screw hole 10 at its bottom and a radial trough 11 for receiving the arm of a clamp.

The body shell 6 is preferably molded from a suitable opaque plastic and includes an axial depending stud 12, having a bore 13, of a length and diameter to freely fit within the base recess 9. The inner bottom of the shell 6 is provided with a relatively shallow, wide diameter, up standing annulus 14, which, together with the wall of the shell, defines an annular groove into which is fitted an annular sponge 15 formed from any suitable resilient foamed plastic such as regenerated cellulose or polyurethane.

An internal shoulder 16 is formed adjacent the top of the body shell 6 and is adapted to support the pen holding cap piece 7 which is molded in one piece preferably from a suitable opaque plastic and includes a top disc 17 and a relatively shallow depending skirt 18 terminating in an outwardly projecting flange 19 adapted to fit on the shoulder of the body shell. The cap piece 7 is also provided with a central group of depending articlereceiving wells including a pair of relatively large rectangular wells 20, for ink containers, a pair of relatively small rectangular wells 21, 21 for nib wrenches and three aligned circular wells 22 for pen extension handles. The lower ends of the wells 20 and 22 collectively fit within the annulus 14 of the body shell 6.

A plurality (12 as illustrated) of circular apertures are formed symmetrically around the peripheral edge portion of the cap disk 17 and each carries a depending pen holding sleeve generally indicated 23 molded from a suitable plastic material.

Each sleeve 23 includes an external top retaining flange 24 and a light snap-in retainer flange 25 spaced therefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the cap disk 17. The upper end of the sleeve is provided with a relatively large diameter bore 26 terminating in a shoulder 27 which defines the upper end of an intermediate bore 28 of somewhat smaller diameter terminating in a shoulder 29, which in turn, defines the upper end of a lower bore 30 terminating in an inwardly extending flange 31 at the bottom of the sleeve.

The diameters and lengths of the bores 26, 28 and 30 are determined by the corresponding dimensions of various pen parts so that the pens and/ or parts thereof may be supported therein in various manners as will be hereinafter more fully described. Thus the dimensions indicated by the letters A-F inclusive of FIG. 7 will have their substantial counterparts on the pen elements shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

In FIG. 8 there is illustrated the working core of a stylus type fountain drafting pen that would normally be stored in the pen holder of this invention in the position indicated when out of use and with its cap on. Such a. pen includes a hollow stylus nib or point 32 mounted in an adapter 33 threadedly engaged within one end of a finger grip mounting 34, the other end of which carries a cylindrical ink cartridge or reservoir 35 removably secured thereon by a combined gland nut and nipple 36. The stylus end is normally covered by a cap 37 threadably engaged thereover and containing a small moistened sponge 38 that serves both to keep the stylus 32 clean and to prevent the ink at the end thereof from drying. For normal out of use storage the capped pen core is carried within a sleeve 23 with the ink reservoir 35 positioned within the bore 30 thereof and its lower end resting on the angle 31, thsu sealing the bottom of the sleeve against passage of moisture from the annular sponge 15.

When the pen is to be used a cylindrical handle or barrel 39, having one end internally threaded as at 40 and its other end provided with a series of axially aligned short studs 41 of successively smaller diameters, is applied over the ink reservoir 35 and threadably engaged with the gland nut 36 to form a complete assembly which only requires removal of the cap 37 to be ready for use.

When use of any pen is to be temporarily discontinued it is simply placed in one of the sleeves 23 of the pen holder with the studded end of the barrel 39 engaged within the upper portion of the sleeve and with the uncapped stylus exposed.

For slightly longer periods of temporary disuse the cap 37 could be applied to prevent the ink from drying rapidly; but preferably the stylus end of the pen would be inserted within the upper part of the sleeve 23 so that the free end of the finger grip mount 34 rests on the shoulder or ledge 29 thereof and the stylus 32 projects downwardly into the bore 30. Since the open lower end of the sleeve 23 is exposed to moisture from the annular sponge 15, and the finger grip 34 seals the upper end of the bore 30 at the shoulder 29, a humidity chamber is created that will keep the ink moist at the stylus and prevent it from drying.

This latter position is quite useful in those instances where a substantial number of difierent pens are to be used in quick succession as where several changes in line weights or colors are required. In such instances the required number and types of pen cores are placed tip down in the sleeves 23 and the barrel 39 can be readily attached to or detached from any of them.

Each removed cap .37 either can be inserted in an empty sleeve 23 or frictionally engaged with the studded end of the barrel 39 or simply fitted over the free end of the upwardly projecting ink reservoir 35.

In use a pen holder constructed in accordance with this invention is clamped to the upper surface of a drafting table adjacent one edge thereof by a clamp 42 having a lateral arm 43 adapted to be received in the radial trough 11 of the base 5, and a threaded clamp arm 44 carrying a wing nut 45 and a freely slidable clamp bracket 46. Thus the body shell 6 may be readily rotated with respect to the base to bring any desired pen carried thereby into the most convenient position for removal and use.

Although the illustrated embodiment of the invention is a rotary type unit for holding a plurality of pens in various positions and in various conditions of assembly, it will be appreciated that the principles of this invention are equally applicable to stationary units for a plurality of pens or even to a unit for a single pen.

I claim:

1. A pen holder particularly adapted to hold one or more three part stylus pens each having a point section with an ink cartridge, a removable cap for the point and a removable holder for the point section whereby the various pen parts may be retained in the holder in (l) a point down capped position, (2) a point down uncapped position, (3) a point up capped position or (4) a point up capped or uncapped position with the point section in the holder and including a generally cylindrical vertical body shell having and open upper end, a cover for the open end of said body shell, annular moisture retaining means positioned within said body shell at the bottom thereof, and a plurality of generally vertical pen part holding sleeves extending downwardly through said cover into said shell substantially into contact with the upper surface of said annular moisture retaining means, the interior of each of said sleeves being configured to receive and retain selected pen parts in any of the above-enumerated positions, the interior of each said sleeve and said annular moisture retaining means together defining a humidity chamber for preventing the ink from drying On the point of a pen whenever a point section is held by said sleeve in an uncapped point down position.

2. The pen holder of claim 1 in which each of said sleeves is provided at its upper end with a relatively large diameter bore adapted to receive and engage a point cap in a point down position, a point section in a point down uncapped position, a point section in a point up capped position or the removable holder in a point up position, said upper bore terminating in a shoulder that in turn defines the upper end of an intermediate bore of lesser diameter terminating in a shoulder that in turn defines the upper end of a lower bore of still lesser diameter, the lower end of said lower bore terminating in an inwardly directed annular flange, said lower bore having a diameter sufficient to receive the ink cartridge of a said point section in a point up position. is positioned within said sleeve in a point up position.

3. The pen holder of claim -2 additionally including an inverted deep-skirted transparent removable lid enclosing the top of said body shell and the pen parts retained by the sleeves of the cover therefor whereby to maintain the entire interior under humidified conditions during periods of non-use.

4. The pen holder of claim 2 which additionally includes a base and means for connecting said shell to said base for rotation with respect thereto about a vertical axis.

(References on following page) 3,428,880 5 6 References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,021,787 3/1966 Great Britain.

283,389 8/1 8 83 Goodwin 211-69.5 X

789,164 5/1905 10W 211-695 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner, 1,093,505 4/1914 Volz 211--69.2 X 5 1,878,302 9/ 193 2 Tourtois 211-77 2,083,299 6/1937 Hunter 24 8-361 2,916,013 12/1959 Rhoades et a1. 211-69.sx 21169.5,78;206--17.1;312284 3,176,662 4/1965 Williams 211--69.5 

